____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ June 14, 1992 ____________________________________________________ Reasons For Rejoicing by Tom Edwards Have you ever seen someone laughing and asked, ``What's so funny?'' If you knew, you might be chuckling right along, too; but because of your not knowing, you are left without a reason to. In writing to the Philippians, Paul exhorted the brethren to ``rejoice in the Lord'' (Phil. 3:1). Maybe some of us have forgotten--or just haven't taken much time to think about--some of the numerous reasons why we as Christians can rejoice in the Lord. To, therefore, refresh our minds with these truths can provide us with ample reason to exalt in God and to be thankful for our relationship with Him. First, God sent His Son. According to Galatians 4:4, this was carried out ``when the fullness of time'' had come. At this precise, foreordained moment in the history of the world, God manifested His inexhaustible love to a lost and perishing planet by willingly giving His Son to be the atonement for the world's transgressions. Though two lovers might trustingly express their endless love for each other, what a drop out of the ocean this is compared to the Lord's compassion as He expresses in Jeremiah 31:3: ``Yea, I have loved thee with an EVERLASTING LOVE; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee'' (Jer. 31:3). Through Jesus' coming into this world, He accomplished on the cross something that not one or all of the thousands of animal sacrifices for sin could ever attain--the complete blotting out of sin. As worded in Hebrews 10:4, ``it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.'' Only through Christ's blood could redemption for the lost be made available (Rev. 5:9-14). And now because of His willing sacrifice, we who are sinners, can obtain the remission of sins and have our transgressions removed as ``far as the east is from the west'' (Psa. 103:12); and God will ''...remember (our) sins no more'' (Heb. 8:12). Forgiveness of sins is something we can be exceedingly thankful for. In Luke 15:10, Jesus relates that ``there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.'' The Christian can also rejoice in the fact that he has been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and brought ``into the kingdom of His beloved Son'' (Col. 1:12,13), for it is a kingdom of ''...righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit'' (Rom. 14:17). Because it is spiritual in nature, the Christian dwells in this kingdom even when the physical world is filled with adversity (Rev. 1:6,9). There is no better place to await the coming of the Lord, for it is only those who are in the kingdom who have been set free from the power of the devil (Heb. 2:14,15); and when Jesus returns, He will deliver up the kingdom to His God and Father (1 Cor. 15:24,25). Furthermore, we can rejoice in our new relationship with God. The Lord says ''...I will call those who were not My people, My people...they shall be called sons of the living God'' (Rom. 9:25,26). ''...For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, `I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people...And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,' says the Lord Almighty'' (2 Cor. 6:16-18). Because of this new relationship, we are the only people who can call upon God as our Father--and this the Lord wants us to do. Peter conveys this desire of God by showing in 1 Peter 5:7 why it is that we should even pray to the Lord: ``casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you'' (1 Pet. 5:7). God ``cares'' for us. We are His children. We can also rejoice in His word that leads us and helps us in the way to heaven. The psalmist said, ``Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path'' (Psa. 119:105). Many people feel confident without God's word, but let us not forget the words of Jeremiah: ``O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps'' (Jer. 10:23). And the man of great wisdom declared, ``There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death'' (Prov. 14:12). God's word gives encouragement (Rom. 15:4) and helps keep one from sinning (Psa.119:11). It also enables one to conform to the mind of God (2 Pet. 3:18) that we may each dwell in peace and unity among ourselves (Phil. 1:27; 2:2; 2 Cor. 13:11) and, thus, fulfill the prayer of Jesus (John 17). The more we allow God's word to become a part of our lives, the more it can be said that we have more of Christ formed within us. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, ``My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you'' (Gal. 4:19). This is not referring to some type of literal, personal dwelling of Jesus, but of lives that are conforming more and more to His Spirit as the word of God increasingly becomes the dominating factor in one's life. God's word strengthens our faith (Jn. 20:30,31; Rom. 10:17) and helps us to be spiritually minded (Rom. 8:5,6). In view of all these things, can we not agree with the psalmist who thankfully expressed, ``I rejoice at Thy word, as one who finds great spoil'' (Psa. 119:162). And, lastly, we can rejoice in our great hope of eternal life. Out of all the hopes and aspirations of mankind, what could be greater than this far-surpassing goal to spend an eternity in glory with God and all the redeemed? When the seventy whom Christ had sent out came back with great joy, they said, ``Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name'' (Luke 10:17). Jesus responded to their remark by saying, ''...do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven'' (Luke 10:20). In eternity, the Christian will possess a glorified body (1 John 3:1,2) of which he will receive in the ``twinkling of an eye''--the ``perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality....'' (1 Cor. 15:51-54). These are just a few of the reasons why we can do as Paul states in Philippians 4:4 to ``Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!'' ___________________________________________ ``IT'S SILLY!'' Sometimes people, when they are told of the need for baptism, reply that it is silly for one to think that baptism has anything to do with one's salvation. Is this all they base their belief on--whether they see it as being silly or not? It appears that way. Lately, I have been reading through the Old Testament and running into some examples of other observances God demanded which can equally appear foolish or silly to the non-believer. Let us consider Exodus 29:20, ``And you shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of Aaron's right ear and on the lobes of his sons' right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the rest of the blood around on the altar.'' Not once do I read of Moses or Aaron or anyone else in the Bible speaking of this command as being purely silly and unnecessary. Had Aaron and his sons not complied with this demand, I don't think their service in the tabernacle--or their lives on this planet--would have continued much longer. It is not logic or common sense that tells a person to dip himself seven times into the muddy rivers of the Jordan River in order to be cured of leprosy, but this is exactly what God told Naaman the leper to do; and when he did it, he was healed (2 Kings 5). Nor does lifting a bronze serpent upon a standard medically or scientifically explain how that numerous people could be cured of deadly snake bites by just looking to it, but this is what God told Moses to do for the dying Israelites who were now penitently seeking mercy and healing (Num. 21:4-9). The Bible says, ''...and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived'' (v. 9). All of these examples would probably appear as utter foolishness to those who would have been unbelievers at the time. But to those who accepted God's word because of their love and faith and acted in obedience, positive results were obtained. Surely baptism is no more foolish than the commands in any of these other examples we considered. Don't base your belief on merely what you think is silly and what is not; allow God's word to be the basis of your faith. ___________________________________________ "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life" (Prov. 4:23). "...by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil" (Prov. 16:6). ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________